Self proclaimed “homo hip-hop head of controversy,” Minneapolis-born, Chicago-based emcee Johnny Dangerous drops celebrity names, spins salacious yarns, and hurls snotty invectives like no other queer hip-hopper around. As his website proclaims, he prides himself on being “openly honest, boldly truthful and downright crass!” Johnny’s debut album, Dangerous Liaisons, was released on Us2 Records in September of 2003. He launched his "Dangerous" tour last year in San Francisco, and has already headlined numerous Pride performances and other related showcases in both California and New York. Johnny has been featured in the independently released documentary, Hip Hop Homos, and has just recently released Armed & Dangerously Remixed, a collection of hip-hop/dance remixes and unreleased tracks from his 2003 debut CD.

In creating just the right touch of decadence for his album, the almost generic sounding hip-hop backgrounds help instill a kind of low-budget porn feel to the carnal tales Johnny weaves. Additionally, there’s a certain nervous edginess to all the rhythms on Dangerous Liaisons that imparts an impulsive aura of “pnp” party-favor drugs like coke and crystal meth. If ever there was a soundtrack for a gay male version of “Girls Gone Wild,” this CD is it.

Johnny claims Salt-N-Pepa and Lil’ Kim as two of his main influences. "I found Salt-N-Pepa’s music to be so raw, aggressive and insanely powerful. Lil' Kim's No Time really triggered something in me," he remembers.

Like one of his idols, Will Smith, Johnny Dangerous likes to rap via the telling of stories. And also like Will Smith, Johnny talks with an unassuming, self-deprecating humor and a breezy bouncy style. Johnny can recall a lurid sexual encounter in the same easygoing manner The Fresh Prince uses in his own 1987 pop-hop hit “Girls Ain’t Nothing But Trouble.”

As Johnny says, "I feel hip-hop is in a different place right now. The party element in rap is hollow, and the art of storytelling seems to be lost. I wanted to bring those back, but with a bold and powerful voice.”

Additionally, since much of the lyrical content of Dangerous Liaisons is of a kind of x-rated “pillow-talk” variety, Johnny’s vocals also include a considerable amount of his own unique breathy whispering, orgasmic panting and little S&M type love growls.

An album full of such bawdiness might come across as mere banal vulgarity were it not for the considerable amount of laughable wit Johnny manages to inject into nearly every line of his lyrics. Like a kind of gay Benny Hill for the homo hip-hop generation, Johnny offers up a relentless stream of lewd trash talk that eventually piles up on the listener’s ear in a silly, fun and harmless way.

Check out Johnny’s Dangerous Liaisons track “Celebrity Fucker” for a hilarious romp through one gay man’s sexual fantasies with a whole A-list of straight male hunks from the worlds of Hollywood and MTV. “Topsy-Turvy,” a bona-fide pop hook gem, states flat-out in graphic terms what the Diana Ross disco classic “Upside Down” only hinted at. Although far too racy to ever make it to commercial airplay, I can hear this track being played in college dorms and on underground radio, both straight and gay. In the CD’s opening track “Not Black Enough,” Johnny pays his rap dues straight out, boldly tackling and even deconstructing the race issue in a way that is truly unique unto himself. This guy can use sexual logic to pull the rug out from under anything.